Woman lost her dog, quits her job to search for him for 57 days

October 3rd, 2019

By Jonathan Maes

Contributor at Animal Channel

When an adorable 7-year-old border collie managed to run away from a hotel room in Montana, her owners Carole and Verne King were absolutely devastated. The pup named Katie was presumed to be scared and rescuers thought that she was lost in the large forest area near Glacier National Park.

Days and weeks passed, but it was clear that owners Carole and her husband Verne would never stop looking for her.

The dog managed to run away after she was left alone for a while in a hotel room in Kalispell; it’s still unclear how Katie was able to escape at the moment. However, there was a storm going on at that time, and it’s likely that the four-footer was scared by the fierce sounds and lightning and escaped in a panic reaction.

Not having Katie around was absolutely unbearable for the poor couple.

“Every night going to bed, it was gut-wrenching,” Carole said to the New York Times. “Is she warm? Did she get to eat today? It tore us up.”

There was no evidence that the poor dog was hurt or worse, so they kept looking. Carole and Verne were thankful that plenty of local residents wanted to assist them, and they’ve printed out and distributed hundreds if not thousands of flyers.

After a while, they even bought night-vision goggles as well as infrared cameras with tracking ability.

That way, they were also able to search for Katie at night, and the cameras were meant as an assist. The couple even went back to their farm and carried horse manure around, hoping that Katie would somehow be able to recognize the scent and get back to them.

The reunion was absolutely emotional and heartwarming.

“I was crying, I was holding onto her, wrapped her up in a bear hug. I couldn’t get her in the car fast enough to close her in so I wouldn’t lose her again.”

Unfortunately, Katie was severely dehydrated and malnourished. She weighed about 15 pounds lighter than before and had to be taken to an emergency vet. Luckily, the four-footer is now doing just fine, she was likely rescued just in time.